Her Darker Side
by Ink-Dash
Summary: "On some days, she's just a mare. No plans of evil, no reason to scare. But other days, a sinister mind shines through. Don't look back, she's watching you!" Excerpt from the song Her Darker Side by Aviators. Cover Image Credit Aviators.
1. Note (To Be Removed)

Hello! You'll be happy to hear that Part One has finally been posted! Thank you to everyone who took a look at this story, it means a lot!


	2. Part 1

The castle's halls were silent. No creature stirred throughout the magnificent structure. The library was no exception. However, it did host one creature that night. But it was still, and did not stir. The crystalline walls began to glow slightly as dawn broke. Twilight Sparkle's eyes began to open slowly. She had been still for several hours, since midnight. Her head ached, and she had no recollection of what had led her to stay in the library that night. Whatever it had been must have been important, judging by the size of the book stacks on the desk in front of her. Twilight became aware of another presence. It felt as if something were stirring in her head. But, she suddenly found that she didn't care what it was.

The library doors creaked open under Starlight Glimmer's hoof. As she entered the room, she spotted Twilight in the middle of the entryway, stumbling towards the door. Starlight became worried. She knew that Twilight had pulled long nights in the library before, but she had never looked like this come morning. "Twilight?" she asked, puzzled. "Are you okay?"

She didn't respond. She reached Starlight, who was still standing in the doorway. At that moment, Twilight Sparkle collapsed. Starlight Glimmer managed to catch Twilight on her back, and gently lowered her onto the ground. Starlight crouched down and looked at her face. Her eyes were closed. "Twilight! What's wrong?" Starlight asked, perturbed. She didn't respond, at least not with words. Sparks slowly started to circle up the length of her horn, which Starlight found odd. Unicorns rarely used magic while asleep, and the Princess certainly didn't seem awake. Twilight's eyes flashed open. For a moment she thought she noticed something different about her eyes. A dull thud reached her ears. She wondered what it could have been, but did not ponder it for long. For now, all she could think about was how fast the floor was approaching.

Starlight became aware of an odd sound. A constant beat, low and consistent, reverberating around her head. She wondered what she could have been hearing. _Is Vinyl putting on a show?_ Starlight thought. Slowly, a dull pain began to coincide with the throbbing she heard. Suddenly, it reached a sharp intensity, encouraging Starlight to groan with pain. The sound seemed to alert her body to bring itself back to the world.

She opened her eyes, and light flooded into them. She squinted into the space she occupied, raising her head. She shuffled around so that she could hold herself up on her hooves, making small grunts as the movement caused the throbbing to intensify. As she regained her brainpower, she realized she had been hearing her own heartbeat. She recognized that she was in her own room. Everything seemed to be in order, besides the throbbing pain she felt.

While she started wondering about why her head hurt so much, the door to the room swung it trotted Twilight Sparkle, with a worried look on her face. When she spotted Starlight Glimmer, her face brightened. "Starlight!" she said. "Good to see that you're okay."

"What… happened?"

"You… well… I don't really know, actually." Twilight chuckled nervously. "I woke up in the library and found you laying on the floor." She trotted next to the bed and continued. "With this nasty looking gash." She touched a hoof to the side of Starlight's head lightly, and where she touched, it felt a little sore. When Starlight went a little higher with her own hoof, she let out a short gasp as pain shot through her head, hitting the aforementioned gash.

Starlight Glimmer started to ask, "Did you not-"

"Bandage it? Of course!" Twilight cut Starlight off. She seemed pretty on edge. "I took them off not long ago, the bleeding stopped a while ago, and I figured that some air wouldn't hurt!"

"How long ago did you find me?"

"Oh, only yesterday morning. I was starting to get worried with how long you were out!"

"I'm glad you care so much."

"Yeah…" Twilight let out a another nervous chuckle. "Of course."

"Twilight, is everything okay?" Starlight inquired, concerned. Twilight's gaze jerked to Starlight's eyes.

"Yep! Everything's fine! Perfect, even." Twilight's gaze drifted away, staring at something very far away. Everything was clearly not fine, but Starlight decided that if Twilight didn't want to talk about it, it'd be best to leave it for later.

"Hey Twilight?" Starlight asked quietly. Twilight's gaze remained on some distant object.

"Yes?" she replied.

"I think I remember what happened before I passed out." Twilight's eyes shifted focus, snapping back to her. Starlight thought her pupils were slightly smaller than usual, but she couldn't be sure.

"R-really? What do you remember?"

"I was coming to check on you. I never saw you leave the library the night before." Twilight's eyes looked worried in Starlight's peripherals Then it looked like she winked or something. "I found you standing by the door. You looked exhausted, you... collapsed on top of me."

"Is that right? Well, that's certainly odd, I don't seem to recall that ever happening." Twilight told Starlight.

"I'm not done." Starlight told anxious mare. "You started using magic while you were unconscious. That's when I blacked out."

"Wow, that sure is a crazy story!" Twilight said with yet another chuckle. "I found you next to your bed, you must have been dreaming, and something made you fall off and hit your head." Twilight seemed pretty confident in her answer.

"But, it seemed to real… I can't believe I was dreaming."

"That's the only logical answer, so case closed!" Twilight declared with an overly excited smile.

"I guess." Starlight said. But she had meant what she said, she _can't_ believe she was dreaming.

"What time is it? she asked the princess.

"Oh, just past seven." Twilight replied.

"A.M. or P.M.?" Starlight asked, worry prominent in her voice.

"P.M.." Twilight told her.

"Oh no!" Starlight exclaimed, sitting up quickly, her carelessness rewarding her with a sharp spike of pain through her head. She practically slammed a hoof to her head in response, letting out a low growl, as if to tell her brain to _think_ before it did things. "I was supposed to meet Pinkie Pie to help her bake for our picnic three hours ago!" A knock sounded through the castle, as if on cue. "That'll be her. I'll get the door." Starlight got off the bed, carefully this time. She began trotting towards the door.

"Starlight, you should probably rebandage that-"

"I'll do it on the way!" She shouted back through the door, the bandages on the cabinet next to Twilight floating out the door.

She found herself alone in the room. Her eye twitched once.

"But then… it won't be... perfect." Twilight said quietly. " _You_ won't be perfect."

* * *

Starlight hung her head. She was covered in batter. There's no real need to explain why. She didn't want to think about it either. All she cared about was getting back to the castle to clean off. Her fur was clumped together and clinging to her sides, and she had never felt more uncomfortable. She lifted her head up to look ahead of her, and was relieved to see that she had almost walked straight into the stairs without realizing. When she reached the top, she looked back before opening the door. She was just in time to see the sun fall over the horizon. The castle was perfectly positioned to face the setting sun, and it never got old.

The door creaked behind her, and she turned around to see Twilight Sparkle standing in the doorway, the door held open by the sparks circling her horn. Starlight looked her over. Her mane was disheveled, and there were bags under her eyes. Her posture was significantly less refined than usual, and overall she looked like a herd of Yaks had run through the castle.

"You look like you haven't moved since I left, Twilight. Is everything okay?" Starlight asked her as she trotted through the doorway.

"No- Yes!" Twilight quickly corrected herself, and her eye gave a small twitch. "What happened to you?"

"I baked with Pinkie Pie. What do you expect?" Starlight told her jokingly. Twilight laughed.

"Oh, I don't know why I asked!" she replied. "You should probably go get cleaned up before it dries, you don't want Spike finding some cake pun to call you." Twilight said, chuckling.

"I sure will!" Starlight said. "I'll see you later?"

"Of course!" Twilight told her.

As Starlight turned to walk away, Twilight remained standing by the door. When the unicorn rounded a corner, Twilight blinked. Her iris suddenly took a slightly red hue.

"Of course. I need to fix you." she said, her voice low. Suddenly, she raised a hoof to her head, and closed her eyes tightly. When they opened again, her eyes were back to their usual color. Her face took a distraught look. "No! I don't want that!" she asked no one in particular. Her eye twitched, her face becoming neutral yet again.

"I only want you to be perfect."


End file.
